Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in CowDefender's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, September 7th, 2008
12:40 am	ufc 88 - an mma review name: UFC 88: Breakthrough price: $5 seen at the Fox & Hound at 103rd & Metcalf. rating: 8 of 10 or alternatively #8 best mma event of 2008 so far Well established, well ranked veterans take on some upstarts. The vets were largely favorites. ( pros & cons - with spoilers ) (Comment on this)
Monday, August 25th, 2008
9:41 am	mighty might bosstones - a concert review category: ska music name: Mighty Mighty Bosstones with Deals Gone Bad (opening) price: free seen at Grinders at the Crossroads in Kansas City, MO rating: 8 of 10 Ska isn't really my genre. In the past I've said "I like ska, so long as it is Goldfinger." I was given a Mighty Mighty Bosstones long ago, but didn't listen to it that much.  Maybe all the way through once.  It just wasn't my cup of tea. Their one big hit was fun, but again not entirely my thing. ( detailed related ramblings... ) (Comment on this)
Friday, August 15th, 2008
8:41 am	tropic thunder - a movie review category: comedy/action/adventure movie name: Tropic Thunder price: $5 seen at the AMC Town Center 20 in Overland Park, KS rating: 9 of 10 This is Ben Stiller's funniest comedy since Zoolander.  Maybe funnier.  Maybe his funniest ever.  This movie had resourceful, well crafted action sequences which had a tinge of 'badass' along with a healthy dose of 'omgrofl' and somehow avoided much of a trace of 'absurd.'  I watched and enjoyed Hot Shots 1 and 2, I can deal with absurd. ( more review then a little chunk of spoilers... ) Entertainment value: 9 of 10 General quality level: 8 of 10 Theater experience: 9 of 10 (sparsely populated) Company: Sully Courtesy Cup of Water: 6 of 10 (cold, potable, the guy I got it from seemed stupid.  I asked for a courtesy cup of water, he asked 'another one?'  I had no idea what he was talking about.  I repeated 'courtesy cup of water.'  To his reply of 'I didn't know,' or something like that.  wtf) Critical response: 2 of 10 (what kind of complaint is 'not as funny as it thinks it is'?  The reviews are generally positive, but most of them are backhanded compliments.  'best comedy of the year in spite of itself'  wtf) (Comment on this)
Tuesday, August 12th, 2008
10:30 am	the Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor category: action/adventure movie name: the Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor price: $10 seen at the AMC Independence Commons 20 in Independence, MO rating: 5 of 10 The Mummy and the Mummy Returns were both very fun movies.  They weren't good, per se, but very enjoyable.  Both were pretty solid in the 'comedic quips by protagonist' and both had a well executed comedic sidekick.  They also had Rachel Weisz as Evelyn.  I just looked up who replaced her and was shocked.  The new Evelyn I saw Sunday night was Maria Bello, who was brilliant in Thank You for Smoking and was sexed on stairs in A History of Violence.  She was very pretty in this mummy movie, but the character wasn't very alluring.  Her sexuality was downplayed.  There was little tension between her and Rick (Fraser).  I think the worst crime involving Evelyn is that it feels like they dropped the character's IQ by 20-30 points.  In the first two mummy flicks Evelyn was far more intelligent than Rick, in this one she was just as dumb. ( Spoilers follow... ) (Comment on this)
Friday, August 8th, 2008
10:46 am	pineapple express - a movie review category: action/comedy/adventure/stoner movie name: Pineapple Express price: $5 seen at the AMC Town Center 20 in Overland Park, KS rating: 8 of 10 This was a crazy movie. Wildly different than most movies in different ways than a movie usually separates itself from the pack. Decent lengthed black & white opening. Different movie eras are sprinkled throughout. A wide variety of jokes are employed. Fun soundtrack. Fun action. I can see what some critics would complain about, the variety in the movie (which I liked) could be viewed as a deficiency in continuity and coherence. The movie didn't force too many conventions and it didn't try to be overly realistic (though I'd venture to say that the characters reacted to the incredible in fairly credible ways). The action sequences were great, well conceived, well executed. The dialog usually popped. A thoroughly decent ride. Entertainment level: 8 of 10 (laughs, cringe moments, action thrills, good resourcefulness) General Quality level: 7 of 10 (as far as filmmaking, editing, dialog, acting) Theater Experience: 8 of 10 (rowdy crowd is good for comedies, good comfort level, I was afraid of the young ones) Oreo Cakesters: 6 of 10 (money to charity is good, but they were 'eh') Courtesy Cup of Water: 8 of 10 (the line went quickly, the water was cold and potable) Company: 8 of 10 (Sully, I hadn't realized that he fell asleep a couple of times, explains his lack of reaction to certain jokes) (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, August 7th, 2008
1:40 pm	I disapprove Why take a parking spot for your bicycles? Why? (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
9:29 am	North Caronlina: pictures For a big gallery: Now, little pictures! (Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 29th, 2008
10:05 am	North Carolina: there and back It was not what I expected. It was interesting. I'd say there are more privacy/secrecy concerns to the trip than I could've foreseen. There are plenty of details that I'd elaborate upon in person. There was a lot of talk about personalities, about self, life etc. But it wasn't one of those 'head in the clouds' sort of philosophical abstractions, it was pragmatic. It was people coming to grips with change in others. There was a man named Paul, too. He factors just fine in the personality/self/privacy talk. The short of it was that he and Sonya had bonded well. Early in my adventures in NC it felt like there were three distinct units: (Nicole), (Sonya+Paul) and (myself). But eventually it felt like there were two, with Nicole and I finding a pretty decent groove contrasting the groove of Sonya/Paul. Although grooves and conversations likely were the bulk of my vacation there was other stuff, too. Behind them was driving (which of course overlapped the other stuff). I drove back and forth between Top Sail and Wilmington fairly often. Other tidbits of my NC time: Walking on the beach Getting smacked around by waves while showing my incompetence with the wake board Hanging out with Bob & Daphne (sp?), Nicole's delightful dogs Got a massage (my first professional one) I really did have a pretty great time, I did get to laugh a lot Horse noises Photos will come soon, as will a link to my frustrations with US Airways/National Rental Car which is being posted on tinygods.com. Odd weekend. (Comment on this)
Saturday, July 19th, 2008
12:22 pm	Why didn't I enjoy the Dark Knight? Why I thought I would enjoy it... Cast: I'm a fan of almost everyone in the movie. Ledger - I admit to having seen 10 Thing I Hate About You in the theater. I enjoyed Knights Tale. I own 10 Things... on DVD. I respected him for taking unconventional roles opposed to making the easy money he could've as a pretty boy. Bale - He has been nearly perfect in everything I've seen him in, Machinist, Equilibrium, Prestige, 3:10 to Yuma, Reign of Fire, American Psycho. Great actor. Eckhart - I saw him in In the Company of Men and Nurse Betty. I loved Thank You for Smoking. I think he is great. Maggie - she plugs the hole in casting from the last movie. Maggie is much, much better than Katie. Caine, Freeman, Oldman? Top tier actors. I wouldn't have cast anyone differently. Not one of them. Director: Nolan - Prestige, Insomnia, Memento were all directed perfectly. The man's movies have been visually interesting, he gets great performances out of the actors. Nolan has a rich aesthetic that doesn't become a character of its own (unlike Burton). Superheros: I like superhero movies. I see pretty much all of them. I don't like all of them, but I like them more often than not. So, why didn't I like it? Below I provide potential causes. I don't know which is the leading cause or if a particular cause didn't play a significant part... you might not want to read what follows if you've not seen the movie... the couple next to me: Directly to my left there was a large woman, to her left was a large man. Her large arm was often touching me, even though I'd given up the armrest. The two of them would talk to each other in a normal voice. Not loud, but definitely not quiet. After the first time she spoke, something to the effect of "that scared me," I was a bit miffed. After the second time, I turned to face them and stared at them for awhile, to let them know that this wasn't really appropriate behavior. I turned at them four or five times before giving up. The next time I stood bolt upright and started looking for open seats despite the theater being "sold out." I saw a few open seats in the front row. I saw an open seat next to a 15 year old girl, and decided that moving to that seat would feel pretty awkward 30 minutes into the movie. I sat it out for awhile. ( concealed for those that don't want to know ) All in all... was all the bad rooted in the peopled next to me? Would the movie rocked me like it did everyone else had it not been for the fact that I wasn't experiencing the movie but sitting in a theater watching it? Am I just one of those 6% on Rotten Tomatoes that didn't go for this movie? I wanted to like it. I still don't blame the movie. Right now I blame them, but I don't know if I'll like it the next time. I got to hear my friends talk about how well done the movie was. I believe them. I agree with their opinions on lots of things. I generally rate movies very well, I'm not that picky. I can enjoy a Treat "The Treat" Williams movie as well as the next guy, but I wanted the movie to end. I was hoping the movie would end. I knew how long it was going to be going in, but that wasn't a problem until I was actually watching it. Grr... At least Ledger totally rocked. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 17th, 2008
8:36 am	B Sides preview, schedule preview... Life is pretty good. The writing is going well for the new project, I gave a taste of a few of the characters from the new story (the B Sides, the name was changed from the B Team), now I'll provide a taste of how the story is told... this is rough, more meat will likely be added and rounds of proofreading will be done, but the start of the story will be intertwined origin stories for the B Sides. This is the story of Chester Adalay: June 2008. O'Fallon, IL. Chester returned from the Walgreens with a packet of newly developed photos. He'd gotten a camera from his dad, Walt, for his 16th birthday. His dad knew that he'd become interested in photography, but had slightly missed the mark. Walt had bought Chester a very nice film based camera. Chester wanted a digital but he thanked his dad repeatedly for the older style camera. He knew that this particular model usually runs $600. He'd mused about how great of a digital he could've bought for that, but he couldn't bring himself to ask if he could exchange it. Chester plopped himself down on the couch in the living room and cracked the envelope open. Chester was perplexed. He flipped through them a few times. His face struck a contorted pose and stayed that way for a good many minutes. For a moment he thought there'd been some kind of mix up, that Walgreens had given him someone else's pictures. Then he became sure they hadn't. These pictures were of a birthday and he'd not started shooting until after the part. The cake in the pictures had nine candles, with the candle in the middle being a nine. When the candles were blown out and the lights were turned on the text on the cake could be read, "Happy Birthday Chet!" He vaguely recognized that cake. His eyes roamed the pictures and recognized many other faces. His mother, his father, all of his friends and the birthday boy: Chester Adalay. Chester loaded a roll of new film and used them up quickly, taking pictures in all directions, going outside and taking pictures of mundane things just to use the film up. The last exposure was used on the sun. The camera began to rewind. He dashed off to Walgreens to have them developed in one hour. He paced around the store waiting for his name to be called. When it was he walked quickly to the counter, put some money down and took the envelope. He flipped through them and was quite confused. Again they were pictures of the ninth birthday. The fifth picture was of the ceiling. As was the last picture. In the fifth picture the ceiling was lit by candles and the flash. In the last picture the lights in the room had been turned on and the flash hadn't fired. Chester was very confused, "Hey," he looked at the cute photogirl's name tag, "Becca, could you do me a favor?" "What did you have in mind?" "Could you load this camera with this film," Chester pulled out a new roll in an unopened package, "and take two or three pictures?" "I guess." She did so, taking one picture of Chester, another of the ceiling, another out the window of the store. Chester gestured for the camera and was given it. He snapped pictures rapidly, just turning a little between each one. He alternated between holding the camera horizontal and vertical. Once that roll was exhausted, Chester handed the camera to the confused Becca, "Could you take that film out and develop it as soon as it gets done rewinding?" "Sure." Becca seemed intrigued and only took about 23 minutes to develop the pictures. Chester was called to the photo counter. He cracked open the envelope in front of Becca. The first picture was of Chester. The second of the Walgreens ceiling. The third of the window outside. Chester noted that Becca was actually quite good at taking pictures. The fourth pictures was of Chester's ninth birthday. The pictures of the birthday alternated between vertical and horizontal, and they were all taken at slightly varied angles, with the last three being of the wall of the room that the party was happening in. Becca was confused and intrigued, "Wait here." Becca went to a place out of sight and returned moments later with a nice digital camera in her hand. She turned it on and placed it in Chester's hands. As he held it up to look through the viewfinder, Becca pressed her cheek against against his arm to get a good view. In the viewfinder they were looking at a door. Chester moved the camera to the right and found the birthday boy, sitting, waiting for the cake. He zoomed in on his face. Becca put her hand on the small of Chester's back and pushed him a step forward. The camera got a tighter shot of his face. She walked Chester several steps closer, nearly walking them both into an endcap of potato chips. The image stopped matching their moves as the camera got a foot away from the birthday boy. His face became illuminated by candles as the cake was put in front of him. Becca removed her face from Chester's arm, barely, and looked at Chester's face to figure out if he was having as hard of a time with this as she. He was. She put her hand on the camera and gripped it, "Let go." Calm and curious. Chester complied. The moment his last finger left the camera the birthday imagery was replaced with potato chips. He tapped it and for a moment the viewfinder was replaced by birthday imagery from before the cake was brought into the room. The last experiment Becca thought to concoct involved changing some of the settings and putting the camera down on the countertop, "I've set a 10 second exposure. I'll press the button, you count to five then put your finger on the camera until the picture is done." And so it was. The result was a picture that was half potato chip, half birthday. Becca seemed impressed, "Wild." Becca gave Chester her phone number. She wanted to think up more things to try out with Chester and photography. He agreed, but under the condition that it would be a date. Becca agreed. Becca and Chester had a great first date. Many pictures, mostly taken by Becca, but some partly taken by Chester, were slapped up on facebook. One of the more interesting pictures caught the eye of Sarah McMurrian. Becca and Chester weren't going to get a chance at a second date anytime soon as they both understood it'd probably be best for Chester if he went to the LBJ Mutant Magnet School. They agreed to keep in touch over the internet. Chester was picked up at the airport by a 17 year old named Sandra. She was quiet and Chester had too many questions to figure out which ones to ask. Chester wound up just watching the Badlands go by during the drive to the School in silence. Sandra parked and grabbed one of Chester's bags and led him first to his new room, where his bags were deposited, then to a lounge. The door had an official name plate next to it, "B Side Lounge." Sandra smiled, "From all that I've heard, you'll fit in just fine here." So, I hope that was enjoyable/comprehensible. Tonight I think I'm seeing Hellboy II. (w/Sully) Tomorrow I think I'm seeing Dark Knight. (w/Josh & Sully) Saturday night I think I'm seeing Affliction: Banned (and UFN 14). (w/Jessica & Joe & Sully) Next Friday I think I'm flying to North Carolina. (w/Sonya & Nicole). Also, I said there were pictures forgotten from the last batch, so here they be: (Comment on this)
Monday, July 14th, 2008
9:01 am	StL Adventure: RCPM, Shurman and Zoo Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers concert Live at Blueberry Hill in St. Louis, MO 7/11/2008 I took some video: Banditos - Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers (link) Maybe We Should Fall in Love - Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers (link) Lemons - Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers (link) 2am - Shurman (link) For those not familiar with the band, I'd suggest Banditos or Maybe We Should Fall in Love as the first one to click. Banditos was a radio hit more than 10 years ago. The original recording was done by the Refreshments. The lead singer of the Refreshments was Roger Clyne and the drummer was P.H. Naffah, both of those guys are in RCPM. The Banditos performance captured above is thoroughly decent and there is some fine audience participation near the end. Maybe We Should Fall in Love is a fine song to get your feet wet with, too. A little less eccentric than Banditos, so perhaps a better starting point. Lemons, on the other hand, is very eccentric. A fine song, to be sure. A very fun song, but I'd warn people watching, the trumpet isn't that great, and that is sort of part of the charm. The man on the trumpet is not an official member of the team, but instead Jason Boots. Jason, from what I understand, had been the band's videographer and he has a solo album (that I purchased that night, but haven't listened to yet). The first time I'd heard them play Lemons, long ago, Roger warned us that Jason doesn't know how to play the trumpet and we'd need to use our imaginations. Though Jason has improved, he still isn't what most would consider to be good. So, when you watch/listen to Lemons use your imagination (to enjoy more). Shurman opened for RCPM. They are easily the best band (in my opinion) to open for Roger outside of the Mexico shows (then things become harder to call). 2am is my favorite song by them, so I was pretty excited to get it on video. The concert was excellent. I wished I could've recorded more, but my 2gb memory card filled quickly. Sully and Jessica joined me (Sully even drove). The fine fans of StL were in attendance: Jim & Davette Struck, Patrick Handrahan, Molly Harris. Jim & Davette provided us a place to stay (a very nice place). Patrick and Molly are getting married, too. I met them all about 5 years ago and it feels like we are all best of friends that only see each other at Roger Clyne shows. concert pictures The concert went well, we slinked back to the Struck residence and got some rest before the adventure to the StL zoo the next day. StL zoo pictures I just noticed the bears, penguins and puffins some how didn't get up. They should be added tonight. Audrey (from my work) has headed off to greener pastures, congratulations to her. (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 10th, 2008
7:10 pm	Another Chapter in Phone Service... Red Roof Inn My message to Red Roof Inn, Westport, StL... (by their website) I've been trying to call (314-991-4900) to cancel my reservation, but no one is answering. I let option 4 (speak with guest aid) ring for about 5 minutes. Hung up and tried option 2 (reservations) and let it ring for about 5 minutes. No response. Then I moved along to the number here (866-686-4355) and was on hold for 15 minutes. Other details: Smidge of music + Lady thanking me for calling, saying that someone would be with me shortly + A guy giving friendly Red Roof Inn related tips and saying "Some people think dogs are the most loyal animals, but Red Roof Inn redcard members are even more loyal. It's clear why, with it being so easy to earn free stays." This guy would get interrupted by the lady Total hold time with the 800#: 14 minutes even Result: them: "We can't cancel a reservation that was booked through a third party website." me: "Can the hotel that the reservation is at cancel it?" them: "Only the originating website can." me: "I never got a confirmation email from the travel site, I can't remember if it was orbitz, priceline or hotwire, do you have that?" them: "We do, it says expedia." me: "I've never used expedia before, would one of the other sites show it as that?" them: "It says you used expedia." me: "Do you have the number I can contact?" them: "I do, 800-397-3342" Off I go, to Expedia at 800-397-3342. Total time: 13 minutes Hold music: Overly complicated instrumental to sound like anything other than crap on the phone. Result: them: [asks for much personal information] me: [provides information] them: "We're having difficulty accessing your account, middle name?" me: [middle name provided] them: "Do you mind if I put you on hold, I'm having difficulty accessing your account?" me: "Sure." [holds] after some digging, it is determined that the reservation is through hotels.com... Off to (800) 394-1454... Robot, then person. Total time: 2:53 Result: sweet, sweet resolution (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 9th, 2008
2:14 pm	The B Team So, I brought my book into work today because a kindly online man had bought a copy and wanted me to sign it. I thought I might as well show it to some of my favored coworkers. It might've been a nice ice breaker. People seemed impressed and said pleasant things about me having written a book. I showed off Sully's art, too. I still feel annoyed by the back of the book and have decided to have Sully do the graphic layout of the jacket (front and back) next time (if: 1he'll do it and 2I can afford him). Of course if you need a reminder about my book, I'll help. It's called Cow Defender (hardcover: amazon.com, lulu.com; paperback: amazon.com, lulu.com... and I prefer purchases be done through lulu). But I can't just rest on my past accomplishments. More writing is to be done! I've probably spent a lot more time thinking about useless super powers than most people (by no means do I claim to be the champion of this). I also think a lot about the social life between super heroes. I think about social consequences of powers, etc. So, I'm marching forward with the B Sides project. I'll introduce you to a couple of the mutants here: aDusty, he's a mindreader that can only glean pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions. bHearth, she exudes a comfort field while sleeping. Any room she sleeps in will become a modest humidity and the temperature will go to 67 degrees. The size of room she can do this with are unknown. cBDay, whenever he takes a picture, or shoots footage with a video camera, the images and sound will be sights and sounds from his 9th Birthday's party as though they were taken from the unoccupied corner of the room, taking a picture to the East, South East or South will be a point blank shot of the walls, in the other directions will result in birthday images. BDay can also project this power as a beam. dIndigo, she has the ability to break the fourth wall, reading adjacent frames (if in a comic book), thought bubbles (if provided) and anything within adjacent paragraphs if in textual form. She hates the author. There are plenty of others already written up. Chad Brown (likely my most favored coworker) liked the idea and has tossed out some ideas for characters, too. His ideas fit in well and are also amusing. So stories to come (likely) with these odd mutants as they grapple with being different enough from normal people to be outsiders, but not different in ways that are very empowering/useful/impressive. Nina Murphy had a going away party, I recorded her singing with my camera, will put it on YouTube then embed that video somewhere. Speaking of me slapping YouTube clips on a page, if you've not seen the old Midnight Spank commercials, you should: link. And I'm planning on doing a video pocast. To learn from and amuse myself. (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, July 7th, 2008
9:47 am	St. Patrick, reviews and firework pictures writing Newest story is up: St. Patrick and his varied exploits (link) pictures (click on any to see larger) reviews UFC 86 - one of the less impressive UFC ppvs in the past while. *on the down side: Stevenson/Tibau, Cote/Almeida and T.Griffin/Aurelio both under-delivered. Expectations were high, but the fights wound up being average. Good finish for the Stevenson/Tibau fight. Cote/Almeida was pretty boring. Cote feared going to the ground with Almeida so he didn't commit to striking exchanges. Almeida had horrible takedowns. Lots of circling. Lots of hugging/takedown stuffing. Not much fun. *on the up side: Koscheck/Lytle and F.Griffin/Rampage both exceeded expectations. Expectations were low for Kos/Lytle, I figured we'd see Kos lay on top of Lytle and score a decision. That was what happened, but it was one of the five bloodiest fights I've seen. Lytle showed great heart and looked strong in the third round, a round that I thought wouldn't happen. For F.Griffin/Rampage I had very high hopes. The fight exceeded them. After seeing Jardine getting smashed by Wand it seemed like the fairy tale might be ending for guys from TUF. I went into the fight hoping that the fight would last longer than 2 minutes. I was hoping that Forrest would earn some respect and show that he is no fluke. Forrest survived the first round and had a good showing. Forrest shocked me by dominating the second round. Then in my books Forrest took the third round. Rampage took the fourth. It is very rare that in a five round championship fight that the cards are even going into the fifth, I had no idea who was going to win the fight. Forrest seemed to pull out ahead in the scoring for the round and did enough to keep his lead. By the night's end Forrest was crowned the new LHW champion. For me, that stood as the fight of the year (so far). *conclusion: The maincard was lacking, but the main event completely delivered. Wall-E - pretty great. Very sparse dialog between main characters. Very clever film making. I'd be interested to see what the script writing sessions looked like, with their being no lines of dialog in the first 30 minutes or so. That aspect reminded me of There Will Be Blood... Wanted - very entertaining. The start (before the action) was very stylized and entertaining. The twists were predictable, but the action sequences were enthralling. Plot was decent enough. Acting was good. Fun dumb action movie. Hancock - I think the studio probably ripped this out of the director's hands (Peter Berg). Berg is a decent director. All of the acting was good. I think they cut a scene out because it would've made Hancock (the character) less likable. The scene would've made the movie less mainstream, but more complicated and interesting. I feel confident of this because there was a reference to the cut scene later in the movie. It makes me wonder what else was cut. It makes me wonder if they bothered watching it after making the cut (and they failed to notice the mistake in continuity). The movie was 'eh.' There was some cool to it, it might've been a good movie before the studio chopped it up to be more digestible. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
11:30 am	all fronts Writing Long ago (I'll let you venture a guess as to when), I started writing a fictionalized account of the life/time/adventures of St. Patrick. I blend truths, exaggerations, legend and lies to paint the story of Patrick. Below is an excerpt from the St. Patrick project. One captive listener raised his hand, Patrick pointed to him. "I don't know that I properly understand the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost." Patrick eagerly replied, "the Trinity, yes." He plucked a clover from the ground and put it before the man, "this is the Trinity. It is one, but it is also three. The clover of Ireland is a reflection of the Holy Trinity. It is one, but also three." Patrick smiled. One of the congregation plucked a four leafed clover from the ground, presenting it to Patrick, "What of this Patrick?" Patrick removed his short sword from its scabbard and brought the blade down heavily into the man's collarbone, nearly bisecting him. Any expression of happines was wiped from Patrick's face, replaced by a snarl, accented by a single drop of blood near his left nostril. Only one of the congregation was sufficiently together to notice that Patrick's finger had never left the butt of his other blade. Not even as Patrick removed his sword from the man who found the four-leaf clover. "Anyone else with the poor luck to discover such a mutant clover will very likely meet the same fate." No other questions followed and all agreed to be baptized. It's a bit rough, but it'll be revised and proofed thoroughly after the story itself is completed. Also a story based in the Fifth Fall (link) world is well on its way. And I'm working on something I call The Two Futures project, two robust worlds/settings to tell stories in. Photography I've been going pretty crazy. Taking pictures everyday and trying to advance my skills with manual. The newest burst: Movies: Sully and I will see Wanted tomorrow. Probably see Wall-E with Dawn on Sunday. Tour de France: Kicks off Saturday the 5th. UFC 86: Saturday night Forrest and Rampage fight for the Light Heavy Weight title. July 5. Concert: Sully, Jessica and I are off to StL on Friday the 11th to see Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers, we'll be staying over with fellow fans Jim & Davette. July 11. Magic: Josh and I will be playing Magic when I get back from the Roger Clyne show in StL. July 13. Travels: Heading to North Carolina at the end of the month. I'll be hanging out with Sonya and Nicole. Student Loans I'd held steady at the advice of Graduate Leverage. They told me to wait until July to do my federal consolidation. Because it is all based on the T-Bill (I think) and the numbers get revised in July and the economy was on a downward trend. If you're locking in a loan rate for the next 30 years of your life, an extra percent or two can make a big difference. I called Graduate Leverage yesterday and was informed that they got out of the federal loan consolidation business. The percent got too low to lock in at. Also, loan confidence is loan because of the prime mortgage whatnot. I was looking to lower my percent a fair deal and lower my payments by $200-300 a month (this $1500/month is killing me). (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
9:45 am	July: the sporting month This is the biggest month in sports for me. This month has the Tour de France and four outstanding mma events. Cycling: Tour de France My thanks to Matt Conley for getting me into this years ago. Without Lance and with the drug scandals some fans have likely fallen away, but not me. The most compelling, arduous endurance challenge on the planet kicks off July 5. Probably the best commentary crew of any sport out there. Probably the most strategic and complicated sport I know of. Last year the Tour was huge for me. I watched it everyday while studying for the bar. Barprep was by far the most arduous mental endurance challenge in my life. The parallels were numerous (to my law addled brain). The drama was crazy, Rasmussen the king of the mountains was wearing the yellow for many days and then was booted by his own team. Alexander Vinokourov was the favorite to win it all, he'd been in Lance's shadow and now it was his time. He had a bad spill that hurt his performance for a couple of days. I think it was the day after the spill Vino wasn't even keeping up with the peloton, his dreams appeared to be dying. A camerman on motorcycle tried to get a good view of his face to figure out where he was at emotionally, Vino signaled that he wanted to be left alone. The commentators lamented that they were quite sure that Vino's chances of winning the tour's yellow jersey have died and that if he didn't heal up he might even fall out of the race. Vino soonafter won an individual time trial, beating the second place by a 1:14. It was a gorgeous run. He tackled the curves with reckless abandon, taking far bolder paths than any other rider. A perfect run. He explained he'd found his legs again. He won stage 15 the next day, too. The next day it was announced that he'd tested positive for blood doping the day of his individual time trial. He was kicked from the tour, his team (Astana) went on to be banned for a year (barring them from this year's tour). With Rasmussen and Vino out the tour became unpredictable and very very competitive. The gap between the first and third places wound up being the smallest in tour history. Usually the race has been won before the last day, but one of the top three taking a spill on the final day could've changed the winner this year. Truly an exciting year and there has been a huge shakeup in the sport over the last couple of years. mma: UFC 86 - Rampage vs Forrest July 5th Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (1) vs Forrest Griffin (7) - This is very exciting. Rampage has been doing very for himself in the UFC. Most consider him a heavy favorite but Forrest is a very tough man and is not someone to be counted out. Forrest's last win was over the formerly #1 ranked Rua (who is 1-0 over Rampage). Rampage wanted to avenge his loss to Rua but Forrest beat Rua, taking his spot for LHW contender. Rampage has KO'd plenty of guys with striking and slams. Forrest is probably a more technical striker with excellent punch/kick combos. Forrest has better submission skills than Rampage. Forrest has been improving leaps and bounds since training with Xtreme Couture. Couture is great at coming up with plans and he's probably developed a great one for Forrest. The fight can go a number of ways, quickly or easily are the least likely. Patrick "the Predator" Cote (29) vs Ricardo "Big Dog" Almeida (24) - Cote has been outstriking plenty of guys. Almeida made a phenomenal return to mma against Yundt. They are both great tests for each other. Cote is a very hard fighter to finish. Almeida is a top level bjj fighter. I find it very unlikely that this fight will go to a decision. Cote by strikes or Almeida with another jaw dropping submission. The winner is probably next in line for the MW title (after A.Silva fights Okami). Joe "Daddy" Stevenson (10) vs Gleison Tibau (48) - Stevenson has only lost to Penn in the past long while and Penn is likely to beat just about anyone at LW, so it isn't much of a knock against Joe. Tibau had a great fight against a very hard opponent in Tyson Griffin, losing by decision. Also not a big knock against him, he looked great. Two A level LWs that will likely put on an incredible performance. Stevenson is favored as he is better (in my perception) on the ground than Tibau and he has what it takes to take the fight to the ground. It should be noted that Tibau is ranked where he is because he's only had one fight at LW, it was a loss against Tyson Griffin, he'd fought at WW before that. Josh "Kos" Koscheck (4) vs Chris "Lights Out" Lytle (15) - Kos seems to have an allergic reaction to the moniker 'blanket' that many online fans apply to him. Kos came out swinging wildly, ferociously in his last fight against Hazelett. He is one of the best wrestlers in all of mma and he feels the need to show that he can bang. He took risks and fought as though he was a wounded underdog. Lytle is one of the best boxers in mma and the only way anyone has ever stopped him is by opening cuts. Lytle lost a controversial decision to Matt Serra at the end of TUF 4, he could've been the one to level GSP. Lytle hung on against Matt Hughes. Lytle was cut open by Thiago Alves. Lytle is a top guy, but doesn't have a winning record against top guys. If Kos takes the fight to the ground it may be a fairly boring fight as Lytle is very hard to finish on the ground (so far no one has done it). On the feet Kos has greater physical abilities but Lytle has more skill (although Kos has been training with Swick which could help his striking improve). If this fight stays standing and both fighters' chins hold this could be the fight of the night. (If not, it'll likely go to Joe/Tibau or the next fight). Tyson Griffin (16) vs Marcus "Maximus" Aurelio (30) - Tyson is consistently one of the most exciting fighters on every card he is on (save for his fight against Tibau on UFC 81, but that isn't to say that fight was boring, it was just a crazy card). Tyson showed exceptional standup against Tibau. Aurelio showed 'eh' standup against Guida. Tyson's wrestling, scrambling, sub defense and TD defense should allow him to determine where the fight will go. Though Aurelio is a top bjj guy, I feel confident that Tyson will take the fight. Gabriel "Napao" Gonzaga (8) vs Justin "the Insane 1" McCulley (31) - I'm of the opinion that GG is a top guy, that he's a beast that can beat anyone. He just hasn't been doing it lately. He lost to Randy in a title fight (which was a gutsy performance where Randy just manhandled him and GG had blood flowing into his throat for much of the fight). Against Werdum he wanted another HL, like the one he got off of Werdum's training buddy CroCop. GG came in with huge leg kicks trying to set up another Right High Kick. Werdum adapted and started avoiding damage from the leg kicks. GG seemed to tire and Werdum punished him with knees and outworked him on the ground. McCully has not shown much in his UFC career thusfar. He was a wrestler and he held a kickboxer down (Antoni Hardonk). If GG wins it won't tell us much, if he loses it does. And there is a trio of prelim fights that might thoroughly entertain, but might not air: Jorge Gurgel (unranked) vs Cole "Magrino" Miller (62) - I don't like Gurgel Melvin "the Young Assassin" Guillard (63) vs Dennis Siver (unranked) - Melvin is a punk, but very fun to watch Corey Hill (unranked) vs Justin Buchholz (unranked) - Hill is very new still, but he has been very impressive, so much potential. mma: Affliction - Banned July 19th A showcase of the top HWs in the world. Although most of the fights are mismatches of a top guy against a guy that is not nearly as good, the event will really showcase the level of these guys. There will be a few competitive fights. "Big" Ben Rothwell (23) vs Andrei "the Pitbull" Arlovski (6) - Rothwell was a dominant force in the IFL (which to many is just the B leagues). He had the best highlights of any HW in the organization. He struggled to beat Ricco Rodriguez (who has not looked good in a very long time... it is barely worth mentioning, but Ricco is 1-0 against Arlovski and 0-1 against Ben, about 7 years separate those fights though). Ricco was Ben's biggest test and he barely passed. Arlovki is frequently accused of losing the fire from his belly after landing that beautiful woman. His hunger and aggression seemed to go away. Even without the fire only one man has beaten Arlovski in the past 6 years, Tim Sylvia (AA lost to Tim 2 out of 3 times). Ben fights like Tim and trains with Tim. Arlovski is Ben's biggest challenge ever. Very hard fight to call. Mike Whitehead (26) vs Renato "Babalu" Sobral (15) - Whitehead failed to impress at HW, but managed to earn a long winning streak at LHW, his competition at LHW has not been A level guys. Babalu has fought top guys and although he doesn't have a winning record against top guys (A+ guys), he has shown that he deserves to be in the top. Biggest test for Whitehead in a long time. If Whitehead isn't an A level guy then Babalu will roll over him in a dominant fashion. Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko (1) vs Tim Sylvia (5) - I have a love/hate relationship with this fight. The Hate: In most of recent history Tim has been a decision king, winning by horribly uninteresting decisions. He jabs with his really long arms, he circles away, he defends TDs (takedowns) well enough and if he needs to he Greco clinches and holds them against the cage (which tires them because he weighs the HW cap of 265 and gives him a chance to recoup). In his last fight Tim looked great and fought aggressively and outstruck and abused Nog standing. The problem is that big Nog (who is not great at takedowns) managed to take Tim down in the third round and get an armbar with ease. Fedor's TDs are way better than Nog's. Fedor's standup is far better than Nog's. Two of the fights that Tim has lost have involved him eating a huge punch at the start of the fight and getting knocked on his ass and then his opponent pounced on him (in one instance Arlovski managed to lock a leg and tap Tim out very early, the other was Randy who pounded on him and didn't finish him, but started a long fight of abuse on Tim). So, the fight could end in the first minute or two. Or the fight could involve Tim jabbing Fedor for the fight, outscoring him every round and frustrating him (and the viewers) as he eeks out another decision win. Fedor fought a guy before with a similar design as Tim (Schilt) and that fight was also not entertaining (Fedor won by decision). The Love: Fedor is the best HW in the world and he hasn't fought top competition in a very long time (I'd say three years). Tim is a great test to see if Fedor lost anything while slumming it. This really could be a war. Those 'showcase/squash' matches (with heavy favorites on the left) - Barnett (4) vs Rizzo (15) Lindland (2) vs Negao (unranked) lil Nog (12) vs Dewees (normally fights at MW, unranked there, moving up to LHW for fight) Aleksander Emelianenko (13) vs Paul Buentello (25) There are other names on the card and some of those unlisted fights might be great, but don't add much to the event and might not even be aired. mma: UFN 14 July 19th Some top guys move weight classes to probably the hardest division in all of mma: LHW. A few of former IFL stars make their UFC debut (Rory Markham and Reese Andy, both are thoroughly decent). Anderson "the Spider" Silva (1 MW) vs James "the Sandman" Irvin (22) - Anderson is a huge favorite in the eyes of the oddsmakers and they might see something that I don't. What I see is the unquestionable #1 MW moving back up to LHW. He'd fought at LHW in the past and wasn't nearly as impressive. Silva may have better skills in every area than Irvin, but Irvin has more strength and more power than anyone did in Silva's MW division. Irvin KO's people regularly and they stay down. There are guys that Irvin KO'd that only he was able to KO. Silva normally beats people standing but Irvin is always a threat to knock people out. Silva is several orders of magnitude better than Irvin on the ground, but Irvin's most horrifying KOs come from guys trying to get him to the ground (flying knee). Both are great on their feet. A.Silva is so much better on the ground that if it goes there it'll end very quickly. The fight has nearly zero chance of being boring. Brandon "the Truth" Vera (12) vs Reese Andy (36) - battle of X factors. Andy was the second best LHW from the IFL (behind the Janitor). Vera did well at HW, but he was about as small as a HW could be. Vera has some great HL finishes and we'll see how Andy adapts to the cage. Vera is a favorite to win, but Andy hasn't been properly tested before. Hermes Franca (23) vs Frank "the Answer" Edgar (15) - A level LWs that can box. If the striking doesn't favor Edgar he'll score a TD on the bjj wizard Franca. Franca might be just as dangerous on his back as he is on his feet, but Edgar is far from being a slouch on the ground. This fight should be great wherever it goes. Anthony "Rumble" Johnson (36) vs Kevin Burns (23) - this fight will likely end one of two ways: 1. Rumble will score another devastating, electrifying KO, or 2. Burns will score a super slick submission. If Rumble does the first easily enough, this hype will continue to swell. Markham (unranked) also makes his UFC debut, but I don't know if that'll be televised. mma: Dream.5 July 21st the Lightweight Grand Prix comes to a close, which could determine the #1 LW in the world. GP bouts Shinya Aoki (2) vs Caol Uno (11) - Aoki has always been a favorite to win this tournament. They gave him about the hardest opening round opponent available (JZ) and though a bumpy road he got past him, then was given an easier opponent the next round, who he easily defeated with a very rare submission (gogoplata from the mount). Uno had no opponent first round then fought Ishida in round 2. Uno was a huge underdog. Many thought his prime had passed long ago. Uno beat him and an in impressive way. Eddie Alvarez (19) vs Tatsuya "Crusher" Kawajiri (7) - Eddie had the most impressive showing of any fighter in the tournament with a war against Hellboy in the second round. Eddie has just looked spectaular. Kawajiri had a tough fight in the opening round and cruised through the second round. Tough fight to call, but Alvarez has been on fire. Then the winner of those fights fights fight to determine the winner of the LWGP. Terribly exciting. Likeliest outcome seems to be Aoki vs Alvarez and Aoki should be able to beat Alvarez by pulling guard and Alvarez not being able to elbow Aoki (as it isn't allowed). non-GP Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto (4) vs Joseph Benavidez (unranked) - some think Yamamoto is the best FW in the world. Some think Faber is. Benavidez trains with Faber. If Yamamoto wins (which he should) perhaps that will pave the way to a Yamamoto/Faber fight. If Benavidez wins then we'll know Faber is the #1. Kid is phenomenal and shouldn't be missed. Mirko "Crocop" Filipovic (9) vs Jérôme Le Banner (unranked) - a striking mma dream fight. CC has more mma experience, JLB is likely the better kickboxing. This fight should be pretty bone crunching. Joachim Hansen (21) vs. Luiz Firmino (47) - both guys are warriors. Both guys had good showing in the second round (though they didn't progress). Should be a very competitive fight. Also on the card, but opponent TBA: Akiyama (10), Minowaman (unranked), Mark Hunt (28), Kultar Gill (unranked), Dennis Kang (18) An excellent month for fighting and cycling. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, June 28th, 2008
10:34 am	photo fun: the past bit (click any to enlarge) (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, June 27th, 2008
3:30 pm	Far flung Normally my LJ is relegated to substantive posts, but this one will likely serve more as a pointer, to make sure that anyone that might read this, but no some other things of mine, is aware of my goings on that haven't been worth a meaty LJ post. I've put out a shingle: on my law blog my craigslisting I've been using my Xanga for a bit of fun: a link farm of news stories a question about superhero powers I've been twittering: here twitter explained I'm letting phones fight for my heart: Bold vs iPhone 3G vs Nuvifone I'm working on some stories. I'm working on a photogallery for KC (giving my city the same service I've given far flung destinations). I'll be in StL on 7/11 to see the Peacemakers (with Jessica and Sully joining me). I'll probably be going to NC at the end of July or the start of August. (Comment on this)
Saturday, May 24th, 2008
6:43 pm	I saw the musical Wicked. I was glad to get the opportunity to go, as it isn't the type of thing I think of doing. Joe Delaney provided the tickets and Sonya and Jessica came along. The main problem I had with the show was the view: That was a bit frustrating. I really dug Glenda, the rest was less good. The set was very cool. The songs that didn't high light Glenda felt flat to me, the scoring wasn't my cup of tea, I didn't think the chorus was very good (not at all). Mexico Gallery 2008 is up. The following icon/picture is the link: I've uploaded my first video to YouTube. It was made with my Canon G9. Hope you enjoy. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
11:39 am	to Mexico and back: lessons learned #1 When renting a car, use a credit card to 'back' the rental on to and make sure to use the same card for paying at the end. I decided to not take the $17/day insurance. Mexican insurance is required and if you rent a car must be had through the rental car folk. You can't drive around in Mexico without it. It runs about $28/calender day. Near the trip's end the car in front of me kicked up a decent sized rock and it hit my windshield. A crack formed. I was displeased. After discussing this with my step-father, it turns out that since I put my rental on my Visa that they'd cover up to $500 (which would be everything up until my deductible). #2 Should your rental car become damaged, report it to the rental car folk, opposed to trying to slip it by them. This is way easier to do (in a cost/benefit analysis) if you've done #1. I told the guy at Enterprise that the windshield got cracked. He told me to not worry about it, that the crack was small. Fine customer service with a boost from karma (perhaps). #3 Have back up batteries when traveling to foreign countries. Jessica's new camera is a good workhorse with Lithium-ion batteries. With her typical use they can last for a couple of weeks. Her use changed a great deal while on the trip and there were no accessible outlets in the hotel room. Her battery did manage to hold up, but only through conservation (which isn't desirable). #4 Digital zoom can be helpful. I'd mocked digital zoom for a very long time. My opinion was based on the fact that for most day shots digital zoom is just zooming in within what the optical zoom can give you. So, typically, digital zoom just does something you can do later in post production (when sitting on your photoshop or paint.net). My opinion changed in Mexico. I learned during the Roger Clyne show that using digital zoom can be extremely useful. People hold their hands up during a concert and when the flash triggers things closer to the flash get more light than things further away. If someone has their hand up in front of my camera 15 feet in front of me when the flash triggers, the camera will see that hand and assume it is what I wanted to take a picture of. If my hefty 6x optical zoom isn't enough to zoom past the hand, the digital zoom (a whopping 24x) was almost always enough to keep hands out of the bottom of the frame and just as importantly the stage lights need to be kept out of the top. (I'll link to some examples after I'm done at work... I was blown away by what my camera could do with the 24x digital zoom at night). #5 Have a hand signal for finding your group. When attending a concert with 2000+ people you'll want to have a hand signal for locating one another for when you get a drink or go to the restroom. Something that gets put up if your friend has been away a bit too long, you'd stick your hand up and have it be doing something clearly distinguishable for 10 seconds (or so). If your friend was having trouble finding you, they'll be pointed in the right direction by this (a bit like Marco Polo, but where there is far too much noise for that to work). Something glowy could probably work, too (unless it is a ravish type scene). #6 For checked bags buy a ribbon if your bag looks common. My bag is a very typical male piece of luggage. Many other men momentarily pick up my bag thinking it to be theirs, I pick up other guys' bags thinking them to be mine. A green ribbon tied around a handle would probably fix that. Simple and cheap. #7 Puerto Penasco doesn't make much use of credit cards and be wary of getting pesos. There are ATMs, but they don't give quite as many options as you'd like for withdrawing funds (you get pesos from the machines). This all adds up to a bit of a need to bring enough American dollars. If you wind up getting pesos from the ATM, if you get too many expect to be penalized when you convert them back to dollars. In Mexico $20 was 200 pesos. My bank (US Bank) wouldn't convert them for me, suggesting the currency exchange at the airport. There my 200 pesos were worth $14 bucks (thereabouts). #8 Passports are (at this time) not mandatory for going to Mexico. If you want to get one you can. Get your passport before you need to, to save headaches stress and 'expediting fees.' You can go down to Mexico with either: a. Birth Certificate + state issued DL b. Passport #9 Rental car considerations. A. Music. If you're going to land and drive a car for awhile, music is important. For this trip I'd brought my 'aux out' cable and iPhone car charger on the off chance that the rental car would have an 'aux in.' I brought an mp3 CD in case the rental car had an mp3 CD player (which is pretty common anymore). Then just in case I'd burned two conventional CDs which I'd be alright to listen to repeatedly. B. Acceleration. When you know you're going to be on a two lane highway you should have a car that can accelerate if you don't want to be at the mercy of the car in front of you. It seems to be the case that many drivers become nervous when they are in a no passing zone (no rebase in Mexico). The winds and diminished visibility freak them out and they decide to go 5-15 mph under the posted speed limit. When they get to a passing zone they feel safe and will go the speed limit (or a little above). If you want to go the speed limit (or above) you'll want a car that can pass other cars when provided the opportunity. Last year Sully and I had a PT Cruiser. It had terrible acceleration. You'd signal and push the pedal all the way down. The engine would make a ruckus. The speedometer wouldn't much budge. Passing would take a long time and the longer I have to be in the 'oncoming traffic lane' the less happy I am. This year Jessica and I had an Impala. It had decent acceleration. I'd signal and push the pedal most of the way down. My speed would jump from 60 to 88 and I'd only spend a couple of seconds in the 'oncoming traffic lane.' All was well. #10 Cellphones are out. Very likely you'll part ways with cell signal on a trip like this. It is an easy thing to learn to love. But if you must, you can rent cell phones when you arrive in foreign places. #11 Local newspapers. I think they make for a great keepsake. In Puerto you can get El Imparcial (a bit on the nose as far as newspaper names and a bit regional in scope) or a local one that is in English (seemingly by folk that have retired to the area). I have a couple of issues of Cape Times from my SAfrican adventure, a Juneau newspaper and now a couple from the latest trip down to Mexico. #12 If traffic isn't moving while in Mexico, don't off-road and pass all of the backed up traffic on the left... chances are that the hold up is the Mexican Army. At least that was the case for us. Traffic slowed to a stop (with occasional crawling). It was a long time before we saw the signs saying 'Armada de Mexico,' a bit more time still before we saw about 20 men in camo holding assault rifles and a number of cars pulled over on the side of the road. (photos to come) (Comment on this)